Just in time for 4th of July cookouts.

I thought these places used carbon monoxide on their meat. Isn't that supposed to de-contaminate it? Or is that just Wal-Mart?

Maybe not everyone has this option, but... For the same price as the supermarket, I get my ground beef from a fancy-shmancy specialty market. They have good turnover and when they run out, they go into the wooden meat locker and grind it fresh. For the SAME PRICE as the supermarket. I buy my (Murray's free-range) chicken there, too.

@pollyannacowgirl: My grocery store grinds in-house daily and will do the same when they're running low.

Even Walmart used to be awesome when they first started doing Supercenters. Really cheap and good meats cut right there in-house, but then they centralized their processing and I won't touch meat from there anymore. It even looks weird.

You can avoid all of this nonsense, and have much healthier meat (way way lower in saturated fat, way higher in omega 3's) by buying grass fed, pasture raised beef from a local source.

I didn't think that the carbon monoxide decontaminated anything, it just keeps the meat looking red/fresher longer.

Ever since we learned how the beef processing industry works, we have been buying ONLY small-label grass-fed beef since 2003. You do not want to know what's in that commercial ground beef.

My comment is not appearing -- what is wrong with this damn comment system?

5/21 - 6/08? So I was right about the Mamwhich being why my stomach was so tore up a while back.

Recall notices never happen soon enough. I'm not storing months of meat in my freezer: I buy food, I eat it.

A butcher shop did just open somewhat close to me. Someone told me a couple of days ago they were very good. Seems like as good a time as any to check them out.

@timmus: It's not always immediately posted.

@Rectilinear Propagation: Huh, site says my state isn't in the recall...

"The sell-by date on them will fall between 5/21 and 6/05."

Thanks for recalling the meat I ate last month.

I quit all ground beef after I read Fast Food Nation. It doesn't matter whether the beef is grass fed free range whatever. E Coli comes from shit contaminating the hamburger and it's way more common that we all think.

@HFC: No kidding. I made one of my rare shopping trips to Kroger around this time - AND bought some ground beef - but we ate it 3 weeks ago. Thanks a lot, Kroger! I guess since we didn't get sick we're in the clear, but the info might've been more helpful back in June when it was in my freezer.

Kroghetto does it again.

1 month late

Someone may want to update the article here since it appears Kroger updated their recall page with expanded dates. It now reads: Kroger stores May 21-July 3 *

grass-fed beef from a local rancher FTW!

@MrBiggles: Same here. Just learning about the beef industry was enough to get me off of it for good. That being said, if you're on a budget, it's awfully hard to cut that easy to cook with and comparatively cheap source of protein out of your diet...

@VA_White: I have been looking ALL OVER new york city for a cattle rancher to buy a cow from, with no luck. My neighbor made a suggestion about the HOA president and a cow, though...

@Ash78: Yes, I try to buy only ground beef in a store where they grind actual beef on site. I will not buy prepared hamburgers; besides that they taste just awful.

As far as small label stuff goes, and grass fed and organic, etc? The contamination comes in the processing, not in the growing. You can raise the cow in a totally sterile environment, only feed it Bermuda grass and give it Poland Spring, but if the guy cutting the meat just left the bathroom without washing his hands, you're gonna get sick.

Grinding beef on-premises sure sounds nice and fresh. Though I suspect this styro-packaged beef was ground on-premise since it didn't come in the beef chub. The risks of bacteria are strongly associated with the conditions of the butcher shop and habits of the butchers. Handling raw meat products contains some risk so if your store has a flaw in sanitation, the advantage is questionable IMHO.

Of course, your chance of choosing a store with a good reputation is greater than making a selection on the processing facility.

As for me...I've got a $4 styro tray of recalled beef in my freezer which is going back to Kroger on my next trip.

Clearly if you're going to buy beef, your risks are much lower when you cook the meat thoroughly. Ground meat especially.

@pollyannacowgirl: I thought these places used carbon monoxide on their meat. Isn't that supposed to de-contaminate it? Or is that just Wal-Mart?

Nope Carbon Monixide does nothing other than making the meat always looks "fresh" even if it has gone bad. That is why it is such a scandal.

Of course if it was purchased and immediately frozen, and then cooked completely, there's no danger, right? I have no idea when I bought my Kroger ground beef (outbreaks in my own county from the stuff), as I purchased a lot of it on sale, and it's since been re-packaged.

balthisar:
If you cook it completely to an internal temperature > than 160 F you should be fine. I'm in the same boat as you. I buy it on sale and repackage it in vacuum bags and then freeze it. I no longer have the receipts nor the packaging so they can't issue a refund understandably.

@Hanke: Its not just the guy cutting the meat not washing his hands, but the meat processing itself. E Coli comes from cow shit on hooves, hides, when the cow is gutted. Anything that the intestinal or excreted material comes in contact with will become contaminated. With process lines fast and many MANY cows being slaughtered per minute contamination can be wide spread. Just think that your hamburger came from 300 different cows any of which could be contaminated with E Coli.

@JBlair42081: Another point to make is that it's very important to be careful about contaminating surfaces, tools, hands, etc when handling raw ground beef. You can easily re-contaminate even completely cooked meat this way if you aren't careful. I know, because I think I made this mistake recently. I went camping, and didn't have running water nearby, and thus didn't use soap when washing my hands after touching raw beef. Big mistake - I got pretty badly sick to my stomach a few days later, and I think this was the reason, though obviously I can't be sure.

@MrBiggles: That was my point about having the sterile environment. But again, you avoid the 300 different cows phenomenon by buying your ground meat from a place that does the grinding on-premesis.

@Hanke: eatwild.com is a great resource for finding grass-fed beef. [eatwild.com] lists resources in NYC.

What sucks is I've already removed my beef from package and placed into freezer bags. I have no way of proving it was the beef I bought. Will they accept just a receipt?

@suburbancowboy:

Excellent point about grass fed beef. Safer, and tastier too.

I just read that Kroger is being sued by a woman hospitalized over this. She's only seeking 250K, which seemed low to me. Her lawyer made a name for himself in the Jack in the Box e.coli cases 15 years ago and is now the Go-to guy for food poisoning.

I hope she wins every penny and this opens the door for other lawsuits. It's time we say enough to feces in the food.

"The recall includes nearly all kinds and weights of ground beef with Kroger labels sold between 5/21 and 6/08. The sell-by date on them will fall between 5/21 and 6/05"

Who were the lucky folks getting the "sell by 6/05" meat on 6/08?

what in the world is "Beef Clod?" (see the referenced article)

I'm sure grass-fed beef is healthier, but it's more expensive and that matters to some of us. I've had ecoli once and I'll always make sure I cook my ground beef as necessary to kill it. I always assume it's there.

Does Kroeger (or any store) contact people using the info from the "shopping rewards" cards that they make us use? Seems like it would be a good idea as many people won't see this warning.